What can a cemetery tell us about a country’s culture and history? That is the central question posed in the documentary series ‘Consecrated Ground’. In the five-part EO series presenter Kefah Allush travels to cemeteries in Sicily, Amsterdam, Dublin, Sarajevo and Lisbon in search of Europe’s soul.

‘My Matthäus’ is a film about impassioned amateur performers singing Bach’s Matthäus Passion. Their intimate stories about separation, suffering and consolation bring the Biblical themes back to human measures. The choirboy with a cracking voice, the man whos’ life is centering on getting older and saying goodbye, and the woman who found comfort in singing after a great personal loss. All individuals have their own connection to the Matthäus Passion. Their moving stories combined with the music as its décor make it hard to ever listen to the Matthäus in the same way again.

Does spirituality contribute to our mental health? Four out of ten people in the Netherlands suffer from symptoms such as depression, insomnia, ADHD and stress. What are the statistics in other cultures?

In this documentary an atheist filmmaker explores what he can learn from an ambitious evangelist. Matthew van der Steen (37) is a rising star. He is the charismatic leader of the rapidly growing church “House of Heroes” and CEO of TRIN (Touch Reach and Impact The Nations). This organisation holds prayer healings in Pakistan, India and Myanmar which attract thousands of people. Van der Steen is convinced that God still walks the earth and can cure people from cancer, restore sight to the blind and resurrect the dead through the Holy Spirit. 

Awards & nominations

Mack’s (8) room is filled with all his motocross trophies. At the age of three, he won his first prize. From that moment on, he was as big a motocross fan as his father and his now deceased grandfather – his hero.

Sol LeWitt (1928-2007) was one of the most prominent post-war American artists and is considered a key founder of conceptual art. His art could be described as obsession pushed to the limit of paradox and absurdity: an often simple idea leading to an overwhelming visual and intellectual beauty. To make progress, you need to go back to the essence, he felt.

Twelve-year-old Azza is caught between two cultures – the liberal culture of her Dutch mother and the strict Islamic culture of her Egyptian father. She goes to an Islamic primary school and after the summer she will be going to grammar school, where hardly anyone wears a headscarf. Will she stay loyal to her father’s culture or will the headscarf go? 